FIT Student In Jail For Detonating Homemade Bomb

Explosion In Dormitory Stairwell

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA –Police have made an arrest following a disturbance Saturday night at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne where a student detonated a destructive device on campus.

Florida Tech student Christian Barnes Duke was arrested after he detonated an explosive device in a stairwell at Florida Tech on Saturday night. (Image courtesy Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)

Melbourne Police Department spokesman Sgt. Brian Dohaney said that Florida Tech student Christian Barnes Duke, 19, possessed a destructive device that he made from common household chemicals and items.

The combination of the ingredients used by Duke caused a chemical reaction that brought the compound to a high temperature, causing extreme pressure to build within the container by the expanding gas until the device exploded.

Duke placed this device in a stairwell within the school dorm and detonated it causing a loud blast that disrupted other students who were in the building at the time.

He told police that he learned how to make the device by watching a TV show called “Myth Busters.”

The destructive device used by Duke had great potential to damage property or cause bodily injury, Dohaney said.

Duke was arrested and charged with possessing a destructive device on school property, a third degree felony, and making, possessing, placing and discharging a destructive device, also a third degree felony.